Archive for January, 2009

I think the writers and book readers amongst you could find this behind-the-scenes process interesting in terms of seeing how the publishing world works and also, understanding the importance of a book title, whether in the fiction or non-fiction sector.

When I was writing my first novel, The Flame Tree, that was the working title I used and when I submitted it to Hodder & Stoughton, that was the title they went with. The flame tree is the central symbol of that novel and it also evokes the Asian setting of the book.

With my second novel, my working title was Mindgame but Hodder were not initially keen on it. I remember sitting down for days coming up with a list of over 30 different alternative titles in response to their feedback. In the end, they looked at my list of 30 something titles and came back to say that Mindgame was the best of the lot!

For the last year, my co-author Silvia Cambie and I have been using the working title New Trends in International Communications/ PR for the business book on cross-cultural communications that we’ve been writing. The title seemed to us to sum up what the book was about and whenever we talked about it to friends and people we met, they would nod in recognition and understanding so we wouldn’t have to go into a long-winded explanation.

Originally, our publisher Kogan Page were keen to ensure that the title included the words “Public Relations” but Silvia, an experienced business communicator, always preferred the word “Communications”. She explains that in the world of business communications, marketing and PR, “communications” is the wider expertise, of which marketing and PR are subsets and that a title that encompasses that wider context would have a wider audience. From my point of view, coming from the world of social media, I also prefer “communications” as, unfortunately, “PR” has a bad name in the online landscape, being associated with spin and hype without authenticity in the minds of bloggers.

So when we submitted the manuscript to our publisher Kogan Page, it was time to discuss the final title of the book in some detail. After some discussion about the issues around “communications” and “PR” with her marketing and editorial team, our editor came back agreeing with the choice of “communications.”

There was another issue, however, she told us. The problem was with “new trends.” The book is going to be published in July this year and the aim is to keep it in print with good sales over the foreseeable future. What is “new” now is not going to be new in a few years time. Similarly, what are “trends” now are likely to have become mainstream in time. But what we are writing about - the case studies, the concepts etc - which are the meat of the book will remain relevant for businesses and communicators because they have practical and useful applications beyond newness and trendiness. So the publishing team felt that the phrase “new trends” did not fully or accurately capture the thrust of the book.

So what to do? We batted some ideas back and forth in a series of emails and finally, we all agreed on the final title: International Communications Strategy: Developments in cross-cultural communications, PR and social media. We introduced the word “strategy” to capture the aspects of the book where we discuss how businesses can take advantage of developments in technology and cultural sensitivities. From the publishers point of view, the word also emphasise that the book is aimed at high-level executives within businesses and communications professionals who will need to be thinking strategically in today’s globalised world.

Click to Play

The soundtrack is “Hotcake Syrup” by Derek K. Miller from the Podsafe Music Network.

The other weekend, we were invited to Sunday lunch by some Malaysian friends who have a lovely flat in North London. They had studied in Australia and then stayed on there to work before coming to the UK 18 months ago. In very many ways they are global Anglicized Asians - like me - speaking fluent English and comfortable working and socialising in a Western environment. And yet, when we arrived at their place, I was struck by how much they were still connected to their Eastern roots - and making me realise how much I myself have recently forgotten my Malaysian side.

The first thing was that they invited us to take off our shoes, just like you would in any household you would visit in Asia. In my own home, I may sometimes go barefoot or wear home slippers but I often wander around with my outside shoes on - and I gave up many years ago asking my English visitors - and eventually all my visitors - to take their shoes off. The only people who automatically offer to de-shoe are my parents when they come to visit from Malaysia and I would then tell them, laughingly, “No, no need-lah. We’re like dirty English people now!” So it was a with a “back home” feeling that I slipped my shoes off in my friends’ flat and padded around their pale carpets and flooring.

My friends had cooked a wonderful Malaysian spread for us for lunch. The core base was nasi lemak, the Malaysian national dish of coconut rice, sambal belacan (prawn-based chili condiment), ikan bilis (fried anchovies), boiled egg and peanuts, served on a banana leaf. They had managed to find banana leaves in Chinatown so the whole look was delightfully authentic! For the sambal, my friends had lavished out on big, succulent prawns and to accompany the core dish, we were also treated to beef rendang (dry curry), chicken rendang, fried aubergine and chilli squid. One of the other guests had also brought a huge dish of Chinese barbecued spare ribs!

Needless to say, we were utterly stuffed by the end of the afternoon.

I had forgotten how delicious the taste of home cooked Malaysian food is. Normally, at home, we tend to cook Western-style or simplified versions of Malaysian recipes because that’s quicker. I like to put things in the oven and walk away whereas genuine Asian curries and other Malaysian dishes involve a lot of stove cooking where you have to be there at all times, stirring and interacting in some way with chopping boards or sauces.

We had such a relaxing Malaysian time, laughing and chatting in that loud, sing-song way that I can only do with other Malaysians that when we left, I felt a shock to step out into the cold London evening instead of a warm, tropical setting!

I may still be “dirty” and wear shoes in the house, Western-style but inspired by my friends’ fantastic home cooking, I am now resolved to dig out my old recipes that my Mum wrote down for me years ago and have a go again at cooking my favourite Malaysian meals. I’m thinking of turmeric chicken, sesame fried chicken, soy sauce belly pork, five spice pork… mmmm.

I’ll try and remember to blog about my attempts, with pictures, and you can tell me what you think…

I used to worry that I’m the only one who mis-hears pop songs. I heard a cool band playing in a bar once and couldn’t work out why they were singing “Another day with Jesus Christ” - it turned out to be the Phil Collins song “Another Day in Paradise”. There was also the time I was surprised by the intellectual pop line, “You’ve such amazing brains” and was disappointed to learn later that it was actually “You’ve such amazing grace”.

Now, I’m relieved to see that other people have this affliction too - check out the subtitles on this video to help people like me…

Thanks to CC Chapman who first shared this on Twitter

I usually try to avoid the January sales but this year, I found myself accompanying my Mum to Selfridge’s as she had to exchange something she had bought there. We did not encounter the mad shoving and pushing that was captured by the BBC in the video clip below as it was just over a week after Boxing Day but we found it quite traumatic nonetheless.

Perhaps we are much too delicate but we found the barrage of bodies along Oxford Street a tremendous assault on our senses. No one was pushing or being aggressive but it was the sheer numbers of bodies packed into the canyon of shops that felt overwhelming. Many people were also carrying loads of shopping bags full of goodies and there were some people who were trolleying small suitcases, presumably stuffed full of bargains — and it all added to the crush.

Since we were in the area, I thought that we could pop in to John Lewis to buy a new digital camera with some vouchers that I had saved up. Having battled our way along the length of Oxford Street to Selfridge’s, we now fought our way to John Lewis and staggered up to the top floor where the gadgets live. To my dismay, we came across a long queue of people waiting to speak to the sales assistants and an even longer queue at the checkout counter. I wanted to turn around there and then but we’d come this far… So I gritted my teeth and joined the first queue.

I had checked online earlier that day to see that the camera I wanted was in stock. But something prompted me to stop a harassed member of staff to ask him quickly if that model was in stock. He shook his head and told me that not only was that model out of stock, they didn’t have any other models in the range at all!

I stepped out of the queue, completely disheartened. The only consolation was that, at least I had not waited till my proper turn despite the glares of a number of people behind me in line.

So we battled our way all the way down to the street again and headed home, crushed in more ways than one… I wonder if I was the only person who went to the January sales and didn’t buy a thing!

I don’t suppose it is only in the UK that there is such mayhem during the January sales. There was that tragic story of the Wal-Mart employee who was trampled to death by marauding bargain hunters in the US only a few weeks ago. And the next video shows people being shoved to the ground in another Wal-Mart through the sheer weight of the stampeding crowd - frightening!

Does this kind of behaviour happen anywhere else in the world over shopping?

Happy New Year, everyone!

This is a beautiful little time-lapse video that shows the passing of a year through the changing seasons in a woodland setting.

The only trouble is, it makes me feel that my life is passing before my eyes…!